Scientists ‘find key to longevity’ in Italian village where one in 10 people live beyond 100 years

By Harry Cockburn

Statue of Madonna del Mare (‘Madonna of the Sea’) overlooking the tiny fishing village of Acciaroli in SW Italy where one in 10 people are over 100 years old.

Acciaroli in south west Italy is no ordinary place. It is home to an extraordinarily high number of centenarians.

More than one in 10 of the population of 700 is over 100 years old, and the hamlet has been the focus of a study to discover the factors that contribute to its residents’ longevity.

After spending six months in the area, researchers from Rome’s Sapineza University and the Sandiego School of Medicine found that elderly people in the region have unusually good blood circulation for their age.

The research team analysed blood samples from more than 80 residents, and discovered extraordinarily low levels of adrenomedullin, a hormone that widens blood vessels.

The levels of adrenomedullin were similar to those you would normally find in people in their 20s and 30s, the researchers said.

High levels of the hormone can cause blood vessels to contract, causing circulatory problems which can lead to other serious health conditions.

The scientists found the hormone “in a much reduced quantity in the subjects studied and seems to act as a powerful protecting factor, helping the optimal development of microcirculation”, or capillary circulation.

The research team is yet to discover the cause of the phenomenon, but believe it is closely related to diet and exercise.

People in Acciaroli tend to eat locally caught fish, home-reared rabbits and chickens as well as olive oil and home-grown vegetables and fruit.

The study also notes that the locals all eat rosemary, which is thought to help improve brain function, and local varieties of the herb are set to be studied in a broader examination into longevity in the region.

“When we tested it, we found a dozen different compounds in there. Scientific studies have shown that acids help the function of the brain,” Dr Alan Maisel, a cardiologist from the School of Medicine at the University of California San Diego, told The Telegraph.

In addition, those living in the region suffer from fewer diseases than those living in other western countries.

“We found that they don’t have the sort of chronic diseases that we see in the US such as heart disease, obesity and Alzheimer’s,” Dr Maisel said.

“We noticed that they don’t suffer from cataracts. Most people in the US, if you are over 80, you have cataracts. We saw none,” he said.

But perhaps there is another important factor in locals’ long lives.

“Sexual activity among the elderly appears to be rampant,” Dr Maisel said. “Maybe living long has something to do with that. It’s probably the good air and the joie de vivre.” (See endnote by LD)

The hamlet, 85 miles south from Naples on the Cilento coast, is in the area where US nutritionist Ancel Keys cited the highest concentration of centenarians in the world in 1950, as he sought to establish evidence that a “Mediterranean diet” contributed to longevity.

Endnote by LD on Sexual Continence and Celibacy

The suggestion that “rampant” sexual activity will help you to live longer is (((media propaganda))) put out by the (((Usual Suspects))) to encourage sexual degeneracy. Don’t believe a word of it. Some scientists actually believe the reverse is true.

THE secret of a long life is abstinence from sex, scientists revealed yesterday.

A team from the University of Sheffield believes nuns and spinsters who stay away from the pleasures of the flesh outlive sexually active adults. The “no sex” strategy for survival came from results found studying the sex lives of beetles at the university’s department of animal and plant sciences. They discovered that mealworm beetles, which mate every day, die young, while those which avoid mating live for much longer.

Dr Michael Siva-Jothey, the leader of the team, said: “Nuns tend to have a longer lifespan than women with children and most people know of someone with a maiden aunt who seems to live forever. The question is, why?

. . . The findings are just one in a long line of evidence that suggest that males live longer if they abstain from sex. In 1997, Dr David Gems, a geneticist at University College London, found that males who remain celibate are more likely to survive into a ripe old age. He discovered that males are actually designed to live longer, but any help from nature is wiped out by the pursuit of sex.

USSR-born scientist of Russian heritage Alex Zhavoronkov believes that people could live up to 150 years and be productive, if they changed their lifestyle, which for him personally includes giving up sex.

He exercises to protect his muscle mass and skeleton, which he considers extremely important for a long and healthy life. He strives to work all hours when he is awake, and his life-changing plan for 2015 was to sleep at least 5 hours a day. (See here).

Dr Zhavoronkov hastens to add that he is not recommending that everyone should give up sex to enjoy better health and longevity. He says he chooses this path for himself because it suits him personally and makes him feel much better.

The irresponsible suggestion that “rampant” sex might help you to achieve vigorous health and longevity is typical tabloid disinformation and should be rejected as dangerous nonsense. If rampant sexual activity helped people to live to a hundred and beyond, the world would be full of sex maniacs and serial killers who were also centenarians.

I believe that sex abstinence may be responsible in part for the nun’s superior longevity: no VDs, no pregnancy complications, lactation problems, mammary cancer and, naturally, eliminating one source of stress in daily life (e.g., toilet lid up).
I don’t believe it is true for men because it does not make sense physiologically. It makes no difference if the man is hyposexual, which I suspect is the case with the Russian from the way he talks. I would also take “rampant” with a grain of salt. Who knows what’s ‘rampant’ to a man over 80? Holding hands tightly until they sweat?

If you’ll do some reading on classical Chinese medicine, they will talk about “jing”. Too much sex by men depletes jing (essence). In modern terms, they lose too much zinc. It’s not rocket science. Nowadays, men who are low in testosterone are advised to supplement with zinc by doctors who know nutrition. The eastern religions are rife with advice on having sex in a way that conserves “jing”.

Too much sex by men is the equivalent of a woman bearing more children than her particular body can healthfully handle. Growing fetuses gobble up large amounts of nutrients, especially minerals, which are especially necessary for mental health. Which is why it’s no accident that women who have too many kids (in some cases, that could mean only one or none) experience baby blues or outright postpartum psychosis.

I don’t know if it is wise to never have sex just so you can live to be 140. It is a matter of moderation.

“a maiden aunt who seems to live forever. ”
Not only that; I have noticed something in aged celibate people: men have radiant complexion and they seem to be ageless (you can’t guess how old they are). Women exude remarkable vitality but their complexion rather looks like a ripe, drying fruit, sort of raisin or plum.
Indulging in sexual relations is known to shorten the span of life; I have read somewhere ( I think in a book about yoga- “The amazing secrets of a yogi” by Charles Haanel if my memory doesn’t fail me) that the ejaculated semen equates to the loss of a certain amount of blood.

Srila Prabhupada said Mahatma Gandhi’s strength and his success in getting the British out of India was due to the strength he gained from being celibant.

Semen is made from blood, lots of blood, so when we lose semen we are loosing lots of blood, lots of energy. So it is not good. If the semen is retained within the body it raises to the brain and enhances the finer tissues and memory ability.
A celibant person can work with great determination and without distractions…

I once read, now this may be only rumor, that Mahatma Gandhi liked to lie in bed with naked young girls on each side. Maybe resisting the “distractions” and temptations was where he gained his “strength”. But then how does one trust a lawyer born in South Africa. However, most Indians will tell you that Gandhi had “very little” to do “in getting the British out of India”. It was the Indian troops trained by the Germans during there NS regime that was the major factor in kicking the Brits out of Indian. But of course the The death rattle of British Empire was already in full swing by that time.

I once read, now this may be only rumor, that Mahatma Gandhi liked to lie in bed with naked young girls on each side. Maybe resisting the “distractions” and temptations was where he gained his “strength”.

That story is more than a “rumor”, I read it in an authoritative biography of Gandhi many years ago. My recollection is that he slept with one attractive young woman at a time, a total stranger who was quite willing to indulge him in this way on the strict understanding that he wouldn’t lay a finger on her and treat her like his daughter. “Two naked women on either side”, I think, is an exaggeration to spice up the anecdote.

BTW, this was not something the eccentric Gandhi did surreptitiously. Nor was there the slightest scandal attached to it. His entourage knew he was doing it and thoroughly approved, even going so far as to recruit a suitable volunteer for him. It was simply a “chastity test”. Gandhi passed with flying colors every time and none of the virgins he slept with ever complained that he had “taken advantage” of her.

Such chastity tests sometimes took place in the Middle Ages among Catholic monks. They would sleep with virgins deliberately in order to strengthen their chastity. There is even a story of two Catholic saints who engaged in a chastity match or competition to see who could sleep with a gorgeous young virgin and behave better. One saint challenged the other to the match — a kind of bet — and the other saint accepted the challenge. Both saints won the match, i.e., it was a draw.

I can’t find the name of the two saints on the internet, but I assure you the anecdote/story exists, though whether it is true or apocryphal is another matter. I have the story buried away in one of my social history notebooks in a storeroom.

@Wyandotte: Zinc rears its head again…. When AIDS first appeared — and before HIV was isolated by Luc Montagnier at the Pasteur Inst. in France, sent for a colleague’s second opinion to Robert Gallo in the US who promptly stole it and claimed he had isolated it…— zillions of guesses were pouring in papers submitted with the title Hypothesis to JAMA,. NEJM and the Lancet. One that was not dismissed out of hand was that given the homosexuals’ overactive sex life in bath houses (multiple encounters a night, several ties a week) they must be zinc depleted thus weakening their immune system.
Eventually it was dismissed.
Still and all, moderation is the golden way, albeit, just like “rampant,” its meaning differs from person to person

It’s the weakened immune system that comes first, and then the symptoms of socalled AIDS follow. Yet 99% of the population buys the BS that, for no reason whatsoever, a nasty virus called HIV just decides to fall onto you and kill your immune system. You can be that monogamous housewife in Iowa and the virus will find you! And then you will collapse.

Doctor: I’ll be frank with you. You are not in good shape. I recommend a complete change of lifestyle: No sex, no alcohol, no smoking, and go vegetarian.
Patient: If I do all that, doctor, will I live longer?
Doctor: No. But it will seem so to you.

Mineral deficiencies from food grown in depleted soilss is the main reason for short life span and chronic disease. The way they grow food is the elephant in the room. You need vital soil life to have vital nutritionally dense plants and meats from animals that way these plants. I am organic farmer in a sea of conventional farms and we see that 99 percent of all food is completely void of nutrition.

if i ever manage to stop moving from place to place and settle down, that’s just what I’d want to be, work a small plot of land organically, for my own benefit and a few friends.
on my kindle i got a book by a quebec couple, jean-martin Fortier and marie Bilodeau called The Market Gardener about a successful CSA (community shared agriculture) model they implemented outside Montreal and it is very impressive, a good chunk of it talks about soil vitality and proper care for it.
If i do it, i’d be looking somewhere along the Mediterranean ring with an existing olive orchard … Adriatic coast, Italy or Croatia, Albania, Spain …
who knows, maybe even Turkey or Tunisia … hey, Syria, why not, once the taqqfiris are obliterated.

What you say is true concerning the proper maintenance of the soil used for growing food. The old timers had it figured out before modern science screwed it up. Simple things like crop rotation, fallow every third or fourth year, fertilizing with animal dung, growing a wide variety of food, using no pesticides, not planting more than you need for your family and very modest trading/sharing (no cash crops). This seemed to work well for thousands if not millions of years.

What is done with the food is as important as the soil it is grown in. I accidentally discovered that refrigerating something as simple a tomato for 24 hours can eliminate most of its flavor. I strongly suspect that the flavor of food is directly proportional to the amount of nutrition it has, the better the taste the more nutritional. Maybe that is why God gave use a sense of smell and tastebuds. As a result, I discovered that fresh vine ripened tomatoes last a week or two if simply placed on a surface out of the sun. The flavor remains. Long time storage of veggies is best with sun drying or pickling with vinegar. Salt cured meat maintains its flavor well and provides necessary salt for a healthy diet. Low salt diets are hazardous to your health.

Growing a variety of food (no cash crops) keeps the insect population balanced so that they do not consume everything you grow. The way I look at it is simple. If your are not willing to share a little of what you grow with nature, avoid nature and go buy someone else’s food. Applying pesticides is hazardous to all life forms.

The modern medical industry is jewish controlled and always points everyone in the wrong direction for solutions. If this were not true, they would work themselves out of existence and control. Longevity is no exception.

They say that longevity is about sex, no sex, diet A, diet B, a lot of sun, just a little sun, job, no job, fresh air, marriage, no marriage, kids, no kids, and when all else fails, it’s God’s fault because your are genetically predisposed to die young or live longer. If they ever get around to saying that longevity depends on exposure to stress, they always say that they have a pill to solve the problem, never that you live in an illusional jewish produced hell on earth.

I would suspect that this little town in Italy happens to set in a location that has nothing the jews want so they are not there. They probably do not even have a jewish bank. Most likely there are no jewish hamster wheels to be turned in factories or large cash crop farms, consequently, no alarm clocks. If there are any jews there, they are probably just part-time residence or just visiting. They probably have a very low stress environment which is the biggest key ingredient to a healthy immune system.

Not long ago, I was reading about a small Greek island with a significant number of old timers. It was so laid-back that if a shop was not open, they didn’t care. They knew it would open sometime that day. This island was missing all the things I mentioned above.

Although a decent diet is important, jewish materialism stress is the deadliest disease of them all. This statement is logical. Since the jews do the lusts of their father, the devil, and since the devil is about death and destruction, it naturally follows that living in a jewish dominated society will be hazardous to your health and longevity.

Good points, Ungenius.
In South Africa they had a saying, “If you worry you die. If you don’t worry you still die. So, why worry?”
The Greek island you are talking about is called Ikaria. In the last couple of years, I’ve noticed a plethora of articles on that subject. Personally I’ve always subscribed to the belief that when one’s number is up, that’s it. The stress of trying to live past one’s allotted lifespan is bound to kill you quicker, anyway! As the Mexicans say, Viva La Muerta!

I think you refer to the Greek island of Ikaria(north-east Aegean)where the people live long,but this happens also in Epirus(north-west).
In Epirus ,my great grant father died at the age of 105,but never left his village to come to Athens,and never visited a doctor, and my father who lived in Athens died at 95 and my mum at 93.
Probably the old generations were healthier.
So ,i think if one lives away from civilisation like my great grand father and one eats the products of one’s own garden and what one’s own animals give ,one lives longer.

Since i live in Athens under a Soviet- like goverment i have no hope of reaching even the age of 80 although i strictly follow Mediterranean diet.

If you e3ver go to Greece for Holidays visit Epirus.
Is an unbelievably beautiful place.

Modern medicine claims that their system generates longer life spans, but that are lying. They have no basis for their claim. Birth and death records are a relatively new thing. Their lies keep those afraid of dying in line for modern medicine torture.

To me, it appears that the old timers were older and heather because they were not exposed to vaccines and had limited exposure to modern chemical concoctions known as medicine. Vaccines destroy the immune system and directly fill the body with metals and chemicals the body was not designed to handle as well as critters that bypass some of the body’s initial barriers and battlefields. The effects can last awhile. Most unnatural medicines also compromise the immune system, especially pain killers, and they all unbalance the body’s other systems.

“…i have no hope of reaching even the age of 80…”

Please allow me to pass on some important advice.

You should not think that and certainly not verbalize that. Your words have power in the spiritual world. The spiritual world dictates the physical world since God the spirit created the physical world. Instead verbalize once “Jesus, I have perfect health” and everyday verbalize “Thank you Heavenly Father for my perfect health.” This way God will take you when the time is right according to him instead according to you. It might not yield an age of 90, but it will yield perfection in departure. There is nothing to lose in this advice.

Since I began practicing what are called “The Tibetan Rites of Youth” (which includes celibacy promotion by way of a certain exercise and breathing routine), I have noticed an increase in energy. Another notion it promotes is avoiding mixing foods, e.g., ‘steak and potatoes’ should be avoided because starch and protein mix to stress the digestive system. The Tibetan monks in the Himalayas are not necessarily strict vegetarians, but abstain from complicated diets, and consume only foods raised or grown locally, or which they raise, themselves. Certainly clean, pure water is a factor, and fresh eggs are a bonus. I like to cook, and a healthy high-heat oil is coconut oil. Sometimes it takes a while to get used to celibacy and simple fare, but it’s less expensive and less bothersome than complications – and that, itself, promotes a reduction of stress, and increased longevity. People tell me I look very young for my age (even though I don’t always feel that way!).

I am sure you speak truth. Judicious reading can be a mind bath. May I ask if you are Greek and if you are reading Homer in the original Ancient Greek? If so, can any modern Greek person read Homer in the original Greek quite easily? Or is a translation necessary?

There are many modern English-speaking people who need to read Chaucer (14th century) in a modern English version and he’s not even 700 years old, whereas Homer is over 3000 years old…

Sardonicus,
As you are living in Japan, you might find reading Eiji Yoshikawa both entertaining and edifying. You can download his translated works, Musashi, Taiko and Heike from gen.lib.rus.ec I suppose you must be quite fluent in Japanese by now. I like the Japanese and their culture. You’re very lucky to have the opportunity to reside in a Zen monastery. I’m jealous. Maybe next life.

A modern Greek can read Homer if he has classical education,or (if he has not) try to read the text taking into account certain peculiarities of Homer,because the “modern” Greek uses at about 99% the same words with Homer.
But the Greeks of today care more about women and Souvlaki(traditional take away food which i discovered,reading Iliad that the Homeric heroes used to eat this in the interval of battles).
For me it was easy because i studied Law and i had to know Greek and Latin but also
i studied Etymology and Mythology because i felt ashamed not to be perfect in my heritage,and i still study it.

Clasical Greek helped me to read Shakespear(i have red Timon of Athens)probably because you have in English a lot of Homeric words,for example,the word Kiss,after,move,alleviate and many more.

Now that you wrote it ,i have Chaucer in my library and i will try it.

I put this ” ” in the word modern,because the Language is one not many.
Whoever insits otherwise is ignorant.

Thanks for your detailed response to Sardonicus’ question. I first read Homer in an English prose translation when I was in my teens. (The Penguin Classics translation by E.V.Rieu). This left me completely unmoved. Maybe I was too young. Or the translation, while accurate, was dull and uninspired. I had to struggle to read it through to the end.

Later, in my twenties, I read Homer translated by our 18th century English poet Alexander Pope in rhyming couplets (“heroic couplets”). This was much more enjoyable, but it wasn’t “Homer”. It was Alexander Pope. Very elegant and English, sounding just like a witty English gentleman.

I have yet to read an English translation of Homer which will move me in the same way as Homer in the original Greek must inspire you. Which is sad. There is the “language barrier”.

Our English poet Keats was really impressed by reading Homer in a translation by George Chapman (17th century) who translated Homer in a way that was called “rough” and “primitive” and therefore “suited Homer”. He spoke of the “wine-dark sea” and “sea-shouldering whales.”

I adore the Greek word for sea — thalassa. This sounds so much better than the English word “sea” or “mare” (Latin) or “mer” (French). You can almost hear the waves make a splashing/thwacking noise on the rocks: THA-LASSSSA! (Onomatopoeic).

Here is Keats’ famous poem about Homer:

On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer

BY JOHN KEATS

Much have I travell’d in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
That deep-brow’d Homer ruled as his demesne;
Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
He star’d at the Pacific—and all his men
Look’d at each other with a wild surmise—
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.

“…I adore the Greek word for sea — thalassa. This sounds so much better than the English word “sea” or “mare” (Latin) or “mer” (French). You can almost hear the waves make a splashing/thwacking noise on the rocks: THA-LASSSSA! (Onomatopoeic)…”

The Greek word thalassa is of non-Greek origin and was probably borrowed from the Pelasgian original population of Greece. There is a theory that these people spoke a very early form of Indo-European. My theory is that thalassa simply means “salty”, an apposite name for the sea. It is not a stretch of imagination to see in THALASSA and SALT the same word. The original word was probably SALATTA.

Thanks for these Homeric details. Fascinating! I must try reading Homer again, but like Lasha I’m finding it hard to find a really good English translation. It’s absolutely useless trying to translate an antique language 3000 years old into “modern” English.

Somehow, there’s something lost in translation when we have phrases like this cropping up in a translation: “Hey Patroclus, take a look at that wine-dark sea. Awesome, no?” …… And “Achilles, old buddy, go easy on Hector!”

Some of these modern translators don’t have a clue. They’ve even translated the Bible into street slang for New York blacks. The mind boggles!

Sard, my cousin taught the classics at McGill, among them Homeric greek and says that it has nothing to do with modern, that its pronunciation and complicated inflections (?? i think she called it that) were lost even by the time of koine greek spoken at the time of Jesus.
like comparing the music of Beethoven with disco.

Basically, I want to know if a well-educated modern Greek can read Homer in the original Greek without too much difficulty. Or is it a hard slog? Like you and I having to learn Hebrew or Sanskrit.

I’m just wondering if this guy, being Greek, would find it a bit easier — maybe after doing a 6-month crash course in Ancient Greek.

I studied Ancient Greek in my first year at university (part of a general course with several other subjects) and I can tell you this: it was darn tough! I’ve now forgotten everything I learned. I never reached the competence in that time to read a single word of Homer in the original. I would have needed a few more years for that.

Does your cousin teaches Greek with Erasmian pronunciation?
If yes,then he does not know anything about classical Greek and especially Homer,because with the pronunciation of Erasmus one cannot come in touch with the cassical texts.

As for the Koine((κοινὴ)which is 2000 years old,it is perfectly understandable by today’s schoolchildren because they understand the New Testament without translation.

Inflections?
My good friend if he means that,he does not know what is he talking about!!!
The only think that we do not use today is the “Wish form”,but is easily understood by a greek in the texts.

You should know that with the Koine and the Byzantine Greek the language has become richer by adding new words.

Ταϋγέτη, my cousin is a SHE and she is a prof emeritus from McGill university in Montreal.
She was at the same faculty as her mother and presumably does know what she is talking about.
I don’t, just repeating from memory of over 20 years ago.
She travels frequently to both Greece and Turkey, even learned Turkish because she has that polyglot talent, which i don’t.
She was singled out by her teachers even in high school where she spoke (Church) Latin like a mother tongue.
Of course, no one knows for sure what the Roman pronunciation was like, was Sicily “Sitzilia” or “Sikilya”.Some discussion on Classical vs modern Greek
As for my memory of the word “inflections” that cousin Vanessa used, yes! it served me right for once, even though to this day i have no idea what that is: Verb inflection in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit and auxiliation patterns in French and Italian
Now, i am not trying to pick a fight; what i don’t know, i freely admit not to know.
But i do know that my cousin made an academic career out of this stuff and retired in peace, didn’t get fired for fraudulent misrepresentation of her linguistic skills.
To say that “she doesn’t know what she is talking about” takes it a bit over the edge, i think.

It is not unusual to find isolated places where people demonstrate Exceptional Longevity.

Himalayan Hunzicuts have that quality.

The life expectancy of the average Westerner is about 70 years. The life expectancy of the average Hunza falls onto a different scale altogether – these people reach both physical and intellectual maturity at the venerable age of one hundred! This fact emphasizes the relative nature of what we refer to as normal.

The way we are conditioned to perceive aging has a determining effect on the way we develop.

At one hundred years old, a Hunza is considered neither old nor even elderly. Even more extraordinary is the fact that Hunzas remain surprisingly youthful in all ways, no matter what their chronological age is.

According to a number of sources, it is not uncommon for 90 year old Hunza men to father children. Hunza women of 80 or more look no older than a western woman of 40 – and not only any woman, but one who is in excellent shape.

I have read Homer 5 times and every time i discover something new.
I think that really once in our life time should read Homer from a good translation if you are a non-greek .
I am very cross with some fellow countrymen who prefer to live like Sybarites than studing our heritage.

Try to find and read the book “The dark wine sea” by Henriette Mertz.

You like the word Thalassa(Θάλασσα),but there are many more words for Thalassa like:
Als
Pontos
Pelagos
Myra
Limne
Okeanos
Antlos
Laitma
tenagos
Every one of these shows what kind of sea is about,but we use in every day language only four of them,Thalassa,Pontos,Pelagos,Okeanos.

P.S

I am a woman and my nick name is Ταϋγέτη who was a nymph of the mountains(one of the seven Pleiads,daughters of Atlas)) and mother of the first king of Sparta, (Λακεδαίμων)Lakedaimon.
My real name is one of the six Olympic Godesses.
I write this because ,Sardonicus called me “a guy”,which i think is refered to a man.

There are lots of girls who are not embarrassed by the name Aphroditis. And how about Pulcheria (now fallen in disuse)? On the other hand I would think a man would be embarrassed to be called Margaritis but that’s not the case either.

Both Athena and Aphrodite occur as women’s names in modern Greece, though pronounced as Athina and Aphroditi. In the little mountain village in Crete where I lived for some time, the wife of the local wood-cutter was named Aphroditi. Her husband’s name was Aristotelis.

Demeter, when did i say that my cousin knows better than you? Show me where.

I only took a bit of exception to your saying that she didn’t know what she was talking about – now this is on record, isn’t it.
i cannot judge because i admit to not having qualifications.
But my cousin started as a precocious teenager and retired when she was around 70, so she has studied and taught classics for maybe 55 years or more and also published in professional journals, maybe wrote textbooks, i don’t know.
I can also accept that many or even the majority of English speakers have a stunted vocabulary and execrable grammar and that there are millions of foreigners who can teach them proper English – so what.

I am not trying to make this into cage fight between you and my cousin.
All i am saying is that if you think she didn’t know what she was talking about, then you are not only casting aspersions upon her but also the entire faculty of her colleagues at the McGill and other universities with whom she corresponded and collaborated, all the dozens of conventions and conferences that she attended worldwide – not one of them ever said that she didn’t know what she was talking about until you came along, which by simple application of logic means that they were all, hundreds of them nothing but a bunch of cheating charlatans since they couldn’t in all the years spot my cousin among them.

is that clear?

By the way, i have English translation of Iliad & Odyssey by Robert Fagles, I am sure he didn’t know what he was talking about which gives me an excuse not to read it.
Also translations of the Persian poet Hafez by Edward Fitzgerald and works by Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn from Russian … etc.
Tell you what, how would you feel if you translated something by Lasha Darkmoon into Greek for some Greek blog and I came along and said you don’t know what you are talking about without ever bothering to read any of it?

Maybe being hyper-aggressive is a Greek trait and it is just a cultural misunderstanding but when my cousin is attacked in what I consider to be an unfair fashion, sight unseen, you had believe that a response is forthcoming.

Even though I consider online fighting a total waste of time that would be better spent drinking whatever your choice coffee, Bosnian/Greek/Turkish/Lebanese and having a quiet smoke.

Dimitra is a nice name. It has class. Quiet understatement. I regard “Aphrodite” as vulgar and flashy. That name may go down well in Greece, but just let a girl called Aphrodite come to England and she’d get many titter in class.

Pelasgoi is one of the three main names of the Greeks :
Pelasgos son of Zeus and Niove,
Greek from Graecos,son of Zeus and Pandora
and Hellene, son of Deukalion,son of Zeus,and which is used nowdays.

So Pelasgoi were the first Greeks on this Peninsula.
Etymological the name Pelasgoi, shows maritime people.

Thalassa is a greek word and the original is ALS(Ἅλς) from which comes the word SALT.
The S is there as the H is put in front of every greek word which takes the symbol of daseia(῾),like Homer( Ὁμηρος), Hestia( Ἑστία ) ,Hoi Polloi(οἱ πολλοί),Heterogenous ( Ἑτερογενής)

Thank you, ΤΑΫΓΈΤΗ and Sardonicus.
Entering this oasis of onomatologia on this thread is like being in an orange grove on a late spring day after passing through a Turkish tuvalet overly visited by prolific Rousso